It's with great pride that I wish to inform you about a project in which I'm thrilled to be taking part. It's a documentary called Cartoon Carnival, conceptualized by Andrew T. Smith (Filmed in Supermarionation), a fine young gent and filmmaker in England. Cartoon Carnival aims to be a fresh new primer on the early history of animation, particularly the silent era. It is our hope that this film will be used in classrooms and other educational settings, as well as inspire new fans of these early and under-appreciated films in other traditional and contemporary movie-viewing venues.

The film would also chronicle a bit of the work I have been doing to research, archive, preserve and exhibit this neglected film genre. I'm incredibly grateful to Andrew for taking such a serious level of interest in this work and wanting to bring not only the very historically significant story of early animation out into the general spotlight, but also to do the same for my cause as a historian and archivist.

Here are a few words direct from Mr. Smith:

"Hi, everybody! Andrew T. Smith, here. I just wanted to write you all a quick note to say how thrilled I am to be working with Tommy on this project. I've admired his Cartoon Carnivals from afar and now, with your help, I'd really like to bring these films to an even wider audience. Our Kickstarter is now open to potential backers across the globe and those of you who get there earlier enough might make it in time to snap up some Early Bird discounts. We'd really appreciate your support, whether than means your investing some of your hard-earned cash or simply sharing our Kickstarter page with your friends via social media and word of mouth. We can't do this without you.

Cartoon Carnival aims to raise enough funding to produce a feature length documentary film which will tell the unique story of the development of early American animation chronicling the journey of the talented artists and technicians who strove to advance the art form. In telling this story, interviews and commentary supported by a selection of complete cartoon shorts from the archive of Tommy José Stathes."

We need everyone's help to make the film a reality and hope you can make a nominal (or generous!) contribution over at the Kickstarter campaign. Even if you cannot contribute any funds, sharing the news and campaign page with other aficionados would be greatly appreciated.

This Kickstarter project is halfway through its money-raising period. Since I'd like to see it succeed, I'm posting this to push it back to the top of the queue.

Bob

New and vigorous impulses seem to me to be at work in it,[the cinema] and doubtless before long it will drop all slavish copying of the stage and strike out along fresh paths. -- Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree

I'm pleased to let everyone know that much progress has been made and this documentary is coming along very nicely. There's now a fun new teaser trailer for the film that can be viewed.

Also, the scope of the project has widened in the ensuing months after it was successfully funded back in December. The production team has decided to start an Indiegogo flex funding campaign to try and add a few more bells and whistles to the film--such as film additional interviews, as well as transfer more films from my collection to include even more important stock footage (read: early animation eye candy).